Russian islands declare emergency after mass invasion of polar bears

Russian environmental authorities have deployed a team of specialists to a remote Arctic region to sedate and remove dozens of hungry polar bears that have besieged the people living there.

The move came after officials in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, with a population of about 3,000 people, appealed for help.

“There’s never been such a mass invasion of polar bears,” said Zhigansha Musin, the head of the local administration. “They have literally been chasing people.”

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Other footage shows the polar bears feeding on rubbish at a local dump. Attempts to scare off the polar bears using car horns and dogs have all failed, the Tass news agency said.

Russia classes polar bears as an endangered species and shooting them is prohibited by law. Officials warn, however, that a cull may be necessary to ensure the safety of the local population, if attempts to remove the animals fail.

Dozens of hungry polar bears have invaded the remote Artic region of Novaya Zemlya, leading authorities to declare an emergency. 'There’s never been such a mass invasion of polar bears,' said Zhigansha Musin, the head of the local administration. 'They have literally been chasing people.' A team of specialists has now been sent to sedate and remove the bears.

2. Exactly! This is heartwrenching!

3. Oh wow - and polar bears are usually solitary predators

None of this is natural. Their food source is going away. Polar bears are relentless predators, too. There's a saying about bears: "If it's black, fight back; if its brown, lay down; if its white, say goodnight". You dont want to meet a polar bear, ever. I thought it was SO wrong when I saw pictures of a bunch of polar bears together, waiting for the ice to freeze in the arctic circle. And that one video of a sick polar bear that was so diseased and sick that it was trying to eat a snowmobile seat - that video made me cry and haunts me to this day. Where can they take them where there's enough food? Washington ?